Commander’s Corner 16 February 2019

Brothers:

In an effort to increase communications I will occasionally compose and share thoughts via Commander’s Corner posts on the Camp website. For this CC I have two items to share:

New Meeting Location

Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting today at our new meeting location – Grindstone Charley’s. I think the private meeting room worked very well and we will adjust the room setup if need be. I do intend to obtain a small rug to cover the projector cables.

I was pleased with the hospitality, the service, and the quality of the food today. I hope you also had a pleasant experience and hope you will contact me and share any input you may have.

Continuity

As we have voted on, there are 3 areas we want to focus on as a Camp:

 

The definition of continuity is: “the unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over a period of time.”

Ben Harrison Camp is blessed to have excellent officers, who all work hard to keep the Camp running. There is a lot of work behind the scenes that most members never see. For example, Jerry, as the Camp Secretary-Treasurer, is required to file one or more reports to the Secretary of the Department of Indiana on a monthly basis.

There are a lot of moving parts to each officer’s role.

This is where continuity comes into play.

As a Camp (and the SUVCW as a whole!) we need to think about who the next Brother to fill any officer position will be and how we can make it the easiest we can for that person to assume their new position. As we discussed previously, none of us are getting paid to do what we do – so we want the experience to be a good one.

It is essential that we capture the knowledge of previous officers to pass on to the next person. It is also essential that we provide clear guidance in how to accomplish the role a person is expected to perform.

There is also the reality that an officer could become sick or incapacitated at anytime and be unable to fulfill their role. So it is especially essential that we understand what is involved so that someone else could temporarily or permanently assume that role so that the Camp (Department, etc.) can continue with its unbroken and consistent operation.

So, how do we achieve this continuity?

We need to implement what is called knowledge management and knowledge transfer. In other words, we need to obtain and document each officer’s knowledge and then be able to transfer it when needed.

This may sound like a major undertaking, but it can actually begin with little expense and a low-tech solution: a 3-ring binder.

As the Junior Vice Department Commander I began assisting with Department-level continuity efforts at the Midwinter Encampment when I distributed binders to the Department Commander, SVDC, JVDC, Dept. Secretary, and Dept. Treasurer. These binders will be added to on an ongoing basis and they currently contain such items as the officer’s job description, contact lists for Department and National Officers, report due dates, and sample report forms. As we move forward it is hoped that the officer’s knowledge will also be captured and included in the binder, such as documenting process’ for how to complete routine tasks. Then, when it is time for a new Brother to assume that officer position, they will enter office with at least the baseline knowledge needed for success.

It is my intention to implement this same binder system for Ben Harrison Camp, so expect that at an upcoming meeting I will distribute binders and discuss how we can begin knowledge management and knowledge transfer to ensure the continuity of our beloved Camp.

As always, I appreciate your support, thoughts, and comments.

Yours in Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty,

Jim